Human beings are capable of recognizing the source location, i.e., distance and direction, of sounds heard through the ears through a variety of auditory cues related to head and ear geometry, as well as the way sounds are processed in the brain. Surround sound systems attempt to enrich the audio experience for listeners by outputting sounds from various locations which surround the listener.
Typical surround sound systems utilize an audio signal having multiple discrete channels that are routed to a plurality of speakers, which may be arranged in a variety of known formats. For example, 5.1 surround sound utilizes five full range channels and one low frequency effects (LFE) channel (indicated by the numerals before and after the decimal point, respectively). For 5.1 surround sound, the speakers corresponding to the five full range channels would then typically be arranged in a room with three of the full range channels arranged in front of the listener (in left, center, and right positions) and with the remaining two full range channels arranged behind the listener (in left and right positions). The LFE channel is typically output to one or more subwoofers (or sometimes routed to one or more of the other loudspeakers capable of handling the low frequency signal instead of dedicated subwoofers). A variety of other surround sound formats exists, such as 6.1, 7.1, 10.2, and the like, all of which generally rely on the output of multiple discrete audio channels to a plurality of speakers arranged in a spread out configuration. The multiple discrete audio channels may be coded into the source signal with one-to-one mapping to output channels (e.g. speakers), or the channels may be extracted from a source signal having fewer channels, such as a stereo signal with two discrete channels, using other techniques like matrix decoding to extract the channels of the signal to be played.
Surround sound systems have become popular over the years in movie theaters, home theaters, and other system setups, as many movies, television shows, video games, music, and other forms of entertainment take advantage of the sound field created by a surround sound system to provide an enhanced audio experience. However, there are several drawbacks with traditional surround sound systems, particularly in a home theater application. For example, creating an ideal surround sound field is typically dependent on optimizing the physical setup of the speakers of the surround sound system, but physical constraints and other limitations may prevent optimal setup of the speakers. Additionally for interactive media like video games simulation of the location of sound is not as precise as the speakers are only used to convey information based on the location of each channel.
Creating an ideal sound for a speaker system is often a time consuming and labor intensive process. In a speaker system, optimization of the sound for a given room is a subjective and time consuming process. For large events like concerts audio engineers typically have a booth in the middle or towards the rear of a venue where they will manipulate the volume of music being played. An audio engineer will listen to the music being played and manipulate the sound volume through a set of controls in the booth. Modern Sound boards allow Audio Engineers to manipulate the volume of sound based on frequency. Yet this process of audio optimization is highly subjective and each audio engineer may have different sound preferences. Consequently, some musicians choose to use one engineer to the exclusion of others. Thus it would preferable to develop a way to control the sound of a room that removes the subjectivity of a human audio engineer and create a consistent room sound.
In home audio systems, sound optimization is typically performed by the user if it is performed at all. Some small home systems have audio presets that allow the user to select from several options which may compensate for a few common room types or add room effects. True sound optimization for a room can be a difficult process for the home user as there is no real guide as to the optimum sound response of a given room. A user may spend a large amount of time listening to music coming from each channel of the speaker system and adjusting volume levels to create the desired sound. Thus most modern home surround sound systems are not well optimized for their room because it is a time consuming process with no well-defined method. Additionally unlike in the concert setting for a home user continuous optimization of sound is not currently possible as most users would rather simply listen to the media playing through speakers than focus on changing the audio levels. Thus it would be desirable for there to be a system that allows for fast, easy and continuous audio optimization in the context of home audio systems.
It is within this context that aspects of the present disclosure arise.